LMAO

Bloomington

I have officially moved to Bloomington. In reality it was more than a week ago now, but I am just getting to it here. My Dad helped me move, as did my new roomies dad. Much thanks to the both of them. The apartment is good - My room still needs some work but the rest is fab.





Classes start tomorrow. I've got mixed emotions; mainly because my classes are all the boring cores. And, in undergrad (I'm avoiding say 'at Butler' here because I really have been IU bashing and if I start to pretend I like it here then I have a better chance of actually liking it) my classes were close together. Now, they are multiple hours apart. I'm not a big fan of this.

One thing I did like here was the farmers market. It is HUGE! I got a ton of stuff- honey, sweet and hot peppers, sweet onions, yellow squash, and eggplant. So of course I made ratatouille tonight. I was surprised at how good it was. Jessica (the veggy- man, I miss meat already) loved it too.

Vacay

As I am sure you are all aware (as I remain conviced the only people who actually read this are my parents), I went on vacation a few weeks ago. Thank you to my parents for feeding me (and Rachel) for a week. It was great being back in Northern Michigan (twice in 9 days!). It's such a beautiful place (and it was a great escape from the heat).


While we where there I turned 23. Some of the family came to visit and then My favorite Quasi-Aunt-Beth took Rachel and I wine tasting for the day. We had a lot of fun and it was nice to hang out with the two of them. Only once was I demanding ("We have to turn around. There was a cider place back that way") but it turned out to be a fabulous stop with some good cider and even better ginger ale.


The trip to Glen Lake always signified the ending to summer and it did here to. I got back and many of the people I sort-of-work-with-but-don't-really-but-it's-easier-to-pretend had finished up their internships and left. The move to B-town is getting closer and the leaving has officially begun. Times like these I wonder when life will really start, then I remind myself it already has and I need to grab on.

Tomato Sauce

The tomato rush is finally here. I walking in the CUE today and low and behold! There was a mass of tomatoes. More than any 10 people could eat in a week (ok, that may be an exaggeration but it was a lot).



Julie's First Attempt at Tomato Sauce

Plastic Grocery Sack full of Tomatoes
1 large onion
bunch of carrots
3 tablespoons minced garlic
olive oil to coat pan
salt and pepper to taste
three giant handfuls fresh basil

Peel tomatoes. I used the boiling water dunk, ice water dunk, peel method. Rough chop and set aside. Chop onion. Heat pan with olive oil to medium. Add onions. I wanted mine to be translucent. Grate carrots. When my onion was about 3/4 of the way to translucent I added my carrots. I let all of this cook down for about 10-15 minutes. Then I pureed my tomatoes in the blender (leaving about 1.5 cups behind) and added this to my pot. The 1.5 cups were rough copped and added in. (The onions, carrot, and tomato hunks give it a rustic feel, hopefully). Let is all simmer for about an hour. Add in your fresh basil (rough chopped) and let simmer for another hour. I plan to cool and freeze. I'll let you know how it turns out.